Monthly Archives: March 2013

Movie Trailer of the Week:

Jurassic Park 3D – In theaters April 5th, 2013Synopsis: A wealthy man has created an island amusement park filled with dinosaurs cloned from fossilized DNA. When he invites experts to endorse it, nature takes over.
This film was one of the biggest blockbusters when I was younger, and now it’s back in 3D. Now, I’m not a big fan of 3D as it tends to make me sick, so I probably will not see this in theater, but it should be a good one for everyone else to go see.
The cast does include Sam Neill, Samuel L. Jackson and Jeff Goldblum.

YouTube Video of the Week:

Sergio Garcia climbs a tree to hit one-handed second shot
This has to be one of the most amazing golf shots that I, and probably you have ever seen or ever will. His first shot some how lands in a tree, so he scales the tree, finds the ball, asks for a wedge/high iron, then hits the shot one-handed and backwards. Talk about skill! I have a new respect for this man.

Movie Trailer of the Week:

G.I. Joe: Retaliation – In theaters March 29th, 2013Synopsis: The G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence.
There are only a few returning cast members from the last film, but they do include Channing Tatum as Duke, Ray Park as Snake Eyes and Byung-hun Lee as Storm shadow. This time around we add a few new Joe’s into the mix including Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Roadblock, Bruce Willis as Joe Colton and Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye.

YouTube Video of the Week:

Social Farter – Quit The Denial.ca
Although the content does not apply to me, I do find the message of this ad to be rather amusing. I think it would be great to see people actually doing this in public or at parties. Props to the agency that put this one together.

YouTube channel you should be subscribed to, of the week:

These guys do a wonderful series called Honest Trailers, where they take movies and voice over the movie trailers with more honest descriptions of what actually happens. Be sure to check out their trailer for The Dark Knight, Skyfall and Twilight:Breaking Dawn.

Movie Trailer of the Week:

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone – In theaters March 15th, 2013Synopsis: When a street magician’s stunt begins to make their show look stale, superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton look to salvage on their act – and their friendship – by staging their own daring stunt.
2 movie trailers in a row about magicians? Maybe magic is making a come back. Not sure this is going to rank in my list of films that must be seen in theater more likely it will rank in the “I’ll wait for it to come out on Blu-Ray” category.
The cast is led by Steve Carell and Jim Carrey, and features Alan Arkin, Steve Buscemi and the sexy Olivia Wilde.

YouTube Video of the Week:

Pepsi Max & Jeff Gordon present: “Test Drive”
Yes, I know it’s a fake… it’s not really Jeff Gordon (debatable) and the car sales rep is a paid actor, but who cares. Pepsi has put together one of the best and most original advertisements I’ve seen recently. I would so love to this myself, but I’m not skilled as a driver, if I was… I might be The Stig‘s Canadian cousin.

YouTube Channel you should be Subscribed to, of the week:

Robbazhttps://www.youtube.com/user/Robbaz
Holy crap… this guy does some of the best, and by best I mean funniest, video game reviews I have ever seen. He looks at some new, some old, and even some games that are still in beta and gives an honest and hilarious overview of the game, or parts of the game, and his accent is awesome. Subscribe today, do it, you know you want to.

As always, I’m still open to suggestions for other categories, and for nominations to get included on the list. You can let me know at: oftheweekATleighcDOTcom

I’m sometimes really good at coming up with crazy ideas. Here’s another one.

Owning a car can be expensive, and when you drive as much as I do, you start to look for ways to lower your costs.
Some things I do, or have done include:

Maximize time between oil changes. My driving is mostly highway, so I should be able to get 9,000 – 11,000 kilometres between oil changes, and I always get a synthetic blend for high mileage engines.

Drive the speed limit. I’m a male, and well, most of us like to drive a little fast, in fact I normally do a speed limit + 10% cruising speed, but I have found that I can change my L/100KM (MPG) just by slowing down to the posted limit.

Proper tire inflation. I check them every 2 – 3 weeks to confirm that they are within 0.5 PSI of the manufactures recommendation.

Now, I know that I could probably get better economy by bumping my fuel grade up from regular to extra/mid grade or even going to premium/top grade… but I drive close to 48,000 km each year (or did last year and am on track to do it again this year), so getting the best bang for my buck with gas prices where they are is important.
Here’s my Fuelly Badge, and I’ve tracked every fill up since I bought my 2008 Ford Escape in August 2011.

And in MPG too:

I’m going to be going through a set of tires every 2-3 years, assuming I’m not overly crazy with my driving, and get 10k – 15k from my winters and 30k – 35k from my summer set, so that is going to be an extra cost, plus the cost of the oil changes, the extra for the better oil, and the fun of getting shock and struts and other front end parts replaced more often thanks to living in New Brunswick, where roads are often littered with pot holes in the spring.

I guess it is finally time to get to the real point of this dialogue. I want to get sponsors for my vehicle, real people and businesses willing to pay or give time/parts towards maintenance, and in return, they can advertise on my truck. Now I’ll have to do some more research to see if this is practical, and how it might impact my tax returns in the future, and if anyone would want to advertise on my vehicle, but it’s worth a shot.
Picture the vehicle below sporting some stickers that don’t add horsepower! (Not my real Ford Escape)

Originally I was going to reiterate my pains with the slow fuelling issue that continues to plagued me when it is below 0’C, but now I have met what appears to be a more serious problem. Before I jump down to the real issue, Ford did issue a Technical Service Bulletin for the filling, hence why I’m done with that annoyance. It is available here.

Now, on to the latest and greatest problem.

It started only a few weeks ago, after a weekend where my 2008 Ford Escape was parked in my drive way the entire time. I started my drive to work around my normal time and noticed that the steering wheel had a strange vibration that had not been there before, but it seemed minor so I figured I would check it out when I got to work, after a drive of almost 100 km. I had to stop for gas, and with the early February weather we get in New Brunswick, it was cold… damn cold, so filling up took almost 10 minutes to dispense 55 litres of fuel. When I started up my truck after gassing up, I had no power steering at all. Lucky for me, my drive is mostly highway without many turns, and I figured that I could check the power steering fluid when I get to work, of course, after I get to work I get distracted and forget about it.
Work day ends and it is time to go home, again I have forgotten about the power steering. I start it up and notice the vibration is back in the wheel and remember my situation from earlier. The entire drive home I had power steering, but the wheel continued to vibrate. Now being the person I am, I immediately jumped on the internet to start researching my problem and found out something that was new to me… the 2008 Ford Escape had Electric Power Assist as opposed to the normal hydraulic steering system, so no fluid to top up for an easy fix. Further research seems to show that I am not alone with this problem. Numerous owners in the US and Canada have experienced the same problem, and it seems Ford has only 1 answer for them… replace the Steering Column… not diagnose and repair what is probably faulty software or bad sensors in the EPA system, but replace the entire steering column, and based on what others are paying will cost between $1,400 and $1,800 for parts and labour.
Until I can get the money saved up, I will continue to putter along with this random annoyance, the some times I work and try to shake your arms off while pulling to the left all the time and may or may not shut off whilst you are driving along at highways speeds or attempting to go around a corner at 80 km/h (think 50 MPH… 49.7097 if you want to be exact)… or I just don’t want to work today and you will have to strong-arm the entire drive and develop forearms the look like Popeye. Once I am done paying off the Escape (or it dies, which I hope it doesn’t), I am going to look at down sizing, and now, I’m not sure Ford will be on my list of potential manufacturers to consider.

Some further resources for anyone else that might be experiencing the same issue:

And if you need to get the steering column, you can price it up here… if you live in the US. Check page 3 (using default number per page) and select the part the matches up to your vehicles build date.

Movie Trailer of the Week:

Oz the Great and Powerful – In theatres March 8th, 2013Synopsis: A small-time magician arrives in an enchanted land and is forced to decide if he will be a good man or a great one.
Have you ever wanted to know what happened before Dorothy took her magical trip to the Land of Oz? Well, Disney is going to help us out with this prequel that tells the tale of the wizard, also know as Oscar Diggs. This story is based upon L. Frank Baum‘s Wizard of Oz, the author himself never penned this prequel.James Franco steps in as the lead character and is joined by Michelle Williams as the good witch of the north, Rachel Weisz as the wicked witch of the east, and the gorgeous Mila Kunis as the wicked witch of the west.

YouTube Video of the Week:

Homer Shake – The Simpsons
We are only a few months into 2013 and we may already have this year’s equivalent of Gangnam Style. Meet the Harlem Shake, not to be confused with the dance that originated in Harlem in the early 1980’s, so popular that even The Simpsons have jumped on board. Personally, I prefer the original full length song by Baauer.

News Article of the Week:

Waitress handed her own stolen ID by alleged thief.http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/weird/Woman-Arrested-After–195911981.htmlSo you lose you purse almost a month ago, losing cash, credit cards, etc. The last thing you probably expect to happen? Having your own drivers licence handed to you as proof of age when ordering drinks… well it happened, and the odd part is, that the suspect is listed as being 26 years old, and should have their own licence. Almost Darwin award worthy.

Awesome Software of the Week:

StudioTaxhttp://www.studiotax.com/It’s tax time up here in Canada, and in the US also, but since I don’t live there, I don’t trouble myself with understanding their tax system. StudioTax is a CRA and Revenue Quebec certified program to help you prepare and file your federal and provincial taxes. At this time StudioTax is only available for computers running the Windows operating system. The app is secure, and allows you to file up to the 20 return personal limit, and saves your completed returns as PDF’s and in the required NetFile format. The best part, no activation, no registration and it is free, and you are welcome to make a donation to the developers should you wish.

As always, I’m still open to suggestions for other categories, and for nominations to get included on the list. You can let me know at: oftheweekATleighcDOTcom